Effects of Overwintering on the Survival and Vector Competence of Aedes albopictus in the Urban Life Cycle of Dengue Virus in Guangzhou,China

The Pearl River Delta,where Aedes albopictus(Ae.albopictus)is the only vector for dengue transmission,has exhibited one of the highest dengue burdens in southern China in recent decades.However,whether dengue virus(DENV)can overwinter in Ae.albopictus in the Pearl River Delta has not been determined to date.In this study,300 field-derived Ae.albopictus mosquitoes from Guangzhou that were infected with the predominant endemic DENV-1 strain were investigated under simulated urban balcony environment from October 16,2016,to June 16,2017.The vertical transmission of DENV in the infected overwintering Ae.albopictus was analyzed.The DENV infected overwintering mosquitoes were evaluated for viral load at nine-time points using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR.The vector competence of the infected overwintering Ae.albopictus was also investigated by using suckling mice.Adult mosquitoes and larvae were found during the observation period.The vertical transmission of DENV-1 was documented.The DENV-1-positive rates between overwintering males and females had no difference.The proportion of DENV-1-positive overwintering mosquitoes decreased over time and had no difference beyond three months after the experiment.Overwintering mosquitoes can spread DENV-1 to hosts.No engorged mosquitoes at an ambient temperature below 15℃were observed.The ratio of engorged mosquitoes was positively correlated with the ambient temperature ranging from 15 to 30℃.Our results demonstrated that DENV can overwinter in Ae.albopictus in the Pearl River Delta,Ae.albopictus is the competent vector for DENV,and maintain autochthonous dengue outbreaks in the Pearl River Delta through vertical transmission.

Leakage of mantle helium from the Liaodong Peninsula, China

The isotopic compositions of helium have been investigated in hot spring gases sampled from the Liaodong Peninsula, China. The 3He/ 4He ratios range from 0.14 Ra (0.14 times the atmospheric 3He/ 4He ratio of 1.40×10 -6) to 0.72 Ra. 3He/ 4He versus 4He/ 20Ne ratios and He contents suggest that a small amount of mantle-derived helium reaches the earth’s surface. Helium isotope ratios of the hot spring gases show a distribution pattern similar to the regional heat flow values, indicating that the positive thermal anomaly occurring in the area is closely associated with the presence of mantle-derived helium. The observations described above provide some significant evidence that the molten magma originating from partial melting of the upper mantle may have intruded into the continental crust along the activity fault. The coupling of the presence of mantle He and heat flow anomalies to seismic activity in studied region seem to imply that there is an internal relationship between mantle degassing and seismic

Generation of graphene-based aerogel microspheres for broadband and tunable high-performance microwave absorption by electrospinning-freeze drying process

Despite recent progress in the synthesis and application of graphene-based aerogels, some challenges such as scalable and cost-effective production, and miniaturization still remain, which hinder the practical application of these materials. Here we report a large-scale electrospinning method to generate graphene-based aerogel microspheres （AMs）, which show broadband, tunable and high-performance microwave absorption. Graphene/Fe3O4 AMs with a large number of openings with hierarchical connecting radial microcharmels can be obtained via electrospinning-freeze drying followed by calcination. Importantly, for a given Fe3O4：graphene mass ratio, altering the shape of aerogel monoliths or powders into aerogel microspheres leads to unique electromagnetic wave properties. As expected, the reflection loss of graphene/Fe3O4 AMs-1：1 with only 5 wt.% absorber loading reaches -51.5 dB at 9.2 GHz with a thickness of 4.0 mm and a broad absorption bandwidth （RL 〈-10 dB） of 6.5 GHz. Furthermore, switching to coaxial electrospinning enables the fabrication of SiO2 coatings to construct graphene/Fe3O4@SiO2 core-shell AMs. The coatings influence the electromagnetic wave absorption of graphene/Fe3O4 AMs significantly. In view of these advantages, we believe that this processing technique may be extended to fabricate a wide range of unique graphene-based architectures for functional design and applications.